I need a sign to let me know you're here
by LadyPalma
Summary: A collection of short stories with Tomkat pairing following the letters of the alphabet...Hope you like it!
1. Alive

Ok, I don't know how to introduce you this collection, maybe just saying that there will be a very short story for every letter of the alphabet and each one of them will be with the pairing TomKat... Hope you enjoy it! P.S. I'm sorry for any mistakes, but I'm Italian so English is not my native language...^^ One last thing: as the title say "I need a sign to lt me know you're here" so let me know if you like it or not and if I should continue...

**Desclaimer: **I don't own The Tudors nor history... Otherwise both of them would have been very different. VERY.

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_**A**_**live**

One kiss, then another, and soon it became impossible to count them.

How did it started? They wouldn't have known how to answer.

How long has it been going on? They wouldn't have known how to answer either.

It could be two minutes or maybe two hours, or maybe more than the both of them could expected. It was like something put to the side every time they had met, like something that was always going to happen.

"If someone sees us… It will be your death!" Catherine exclaimed suddenly, breaking the contact between their lips.

Thomas made a small smile and caressed tenderly her cheek.

"In that case, my Queen, before I want to know how it feels to be alive!"


	2. Belong

Here I am with the second flash-fic of this collection but before, I really want to thank autumnrose2010 and TudorGirl910489 for the reviews.. :D

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**_B_elong**

When his son John went to his room saying there was someone who was waiting for him, Thomas More could never expect to see the Queen or, as she should have said, the Princess dowager of Wales.

"Your Majesty!" he said more than surprised, standing up and bowing to her. "What are you doing here?" he couldn't prevent himself from ask.

"I went away from The More… I don't belong there" she simply answered moving a step toward him.

"And where do you belong then?"

His question made a small smile appear on her lips; she didn't know where she belonged: not to the residence she was sent in exile to, nor the Court anymore. Maybe Spain, but it was too far and it was also too late.

"I belong here" she whispered looking around the simple house and then straight to his eyes.

A place she had never seen before, a place she didn't know, a place she would have liked to call home.


	3. Checkmate

I believe this is my favourite one, maybe just because I love chess. I hope you like it too! :)

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**_C_heckmate**

The fragile black and white pieces met and met again without ever really touching, like their hands that moved them accurately and carefully. They've been closed in that room for more than a hour, smiling sometimes to each other, but in silence, thinking about something that had nothing to deal with those pieces. If someone asked what the Queen was doing in her bedchamber with the Chanchellor that afternoon, no one could have guessed, knowing the mutual attraction, that they were just playing chess.

"Checkmate!" exclaimed suddenly Thomas More with a triumphant smile as his White Knight put aside the Black King, taking his place beside the Black Queen.

And their hands touched.


	4. Death

Here it is letter D.. I guess I was a little bit depressed when I wrote this lol

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**_D_eath**

The news of Thomas More's death came to Catherine of Aragon in her new residence at the More on a rainy evening, expected of course but not for that less painful.

"Elizabeth please, I… I want to stay alone" he said to her trusted lady with breaking voice.

Lady Darrell looked at her, she herself couldn't hold the tears; then bowed to the former Queen and left the room.

As soon as she left, Catherine started to cry or better to sob for someone that only now she was realizing how much meant to her. Despite her illness she bent on her knees and started to pray, thinking that now another angel was watching over her.

"Wait for me in heaven" she whispered smiling sadly between the uncountable tears that were streaming down her face.

Just six months and a day later, she died too.


	5. Escape

Good afternoon to everyone (at least in this place at this moment is afternoon ^^) I want to thank again for the reviews, I appreciated them very much! Now I'll leave you to letter E...

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**_E_scape**

"Are you running away?" Thomas asked taking her arm, a thing that normally he wouldn't have been allowed to do.

Catherine looked up to him, she didn't like the sound of that word. Running away, which means escape, which means surrender. And she wasn't surrendering at all.

"Come with me" she whispered after a few moments, ignoring his question.

"But… There are other ways…" he tried again surprised by her request, but knowing at the same time that whatever she would have asked for he would just had done it.

And she knew that too. She took his hand and in a matter of minutes they were already walking out the Palace.

Yes, escape wasn't the only way. But at that moment sounded like the best.


	6. Fight

Here I am again^^ I must confess I'm a bit upset thatI haven't recieved any reviews for the last chapter... Anyway this is letter F :) Like always, hope you like it!

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**_F_ight**

"Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England!" called a voice from the inside.

There was a large part of London, waiting for her behind that door; probably the whole England outside the building. Lots of people thought she wouldn't have entered the Tribunal, the others hoped her to.

She took a deep breath and closed for a moment her blue eyes. She knew what she had to do; she would do the thing she had done for her entire life: fight. She was a fighter, like her mother taught her, like her Kingdom needed, like God wanted. And she would have fought even that day for a King that didn't love her anymore, for a Kingdom that wasn't her own, for a god that seemed to have left her alone.

"No matter what will happen, you'll always be a fighter and a winner" said a familiar voice not from the inside of the Tribunal, but near her, too near.

And as she turned to see the smile on Thomas More's face, her most loyal friend, who she had grown time by time so close with, she started to ask to herself what she had been all her life really fighting for.


	7. Guinevere and Lancelot

The reason why I wrote this one is that I wanted to make a sort of tribute to Dante... So now after Saint Thomas More and Caherine of Araon we have another person who's now turning in his grave LoL! Hope you like it anyway... P.S. The last sentence is a verse from Divine Comedy Canto V Inferno (Hell).

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**_G_uinevere and Lancelot**

Thomas took slowly the book in her hands. "Guinevere and Lancelot" he read on the cover and then casually open it. He perfectly knew the story: an impossible love between a Queen of England and the King's most loyal knight; a story that had soon became a cliché, a cliché which he had already heard about, and in first person. Yes, because Thomas More and Catherine of Aragon were just like them, or maybe like Paolo and Francesca, the two lovers narrated by the Italian Dante: another impossible love.

Impossible love.

That it was impossible there was no doubt, but was it really love between them?

The answer came sooner than he expected; as he kept on reading he found himself fight to not look at the Queen and at the same time unable to look away. And when finally he let his weakness win, looking up from the book, all the defense from any sort of temptation, that he had so hardly built up day by day, crumbled all of a sudden.

"_That day no farther did we read therein"_


	8. Happy

Here its is letter H, hope you like it :D

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**_H_appy**

The sun showed itself outside the window, it was already dawn and she hadn't regretted it yet.

On the contrary, Catherine had loved every single moment of the previous night and turning back time, she would have done it all over again, but then why couldn't there be a second time? Because it was an impossible love, came the obvious answer in her mind, while her heart skipped a beat at the thought of how the word "love" sounded good.

"Have you ever been happy?" the man next to her asked, letting his fingers slowly slip through her hair.

She turned to him, surprised by the question, the same she had tried to avoid for her entire life. She looked for his eyes, and when she found them, she also found the perfect answer.

"I'm happy now"


	9. Isabelle Agnes

This is letter I, the most AU of the collection I think, but I just had to write one that showed Thomas and Catherine as parents... As always, hope you like it:)

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**_I_sabelle Agnes**

When she was ten years old Mary was full of energy and couldn't rest a moment like Catherine herself was in her youth; instead Isabelle Agnes, who had the names of her two grandmothers was calmer and quieter and at that same age, she'd rather prefer read in Latin or in the other _three_ languages beyond English that she knew than do practical activities. Of course, there was the influence of her father and to be the daughter of Thomas More could mean to be a little humanist. But besides her temperament, physically she was a young version of her mother, with the sparkling blue eyes and the long dark hair.

"When she'll grow up, she will be a perfect princess!" Thomas said looking proud at his daughter.

His wife next to him shook her head with a said smile on her lips.

"She won't a princess at all, you know that…" Catherine noted, remembering the difficulties she had faced to let her first daughter Mary still have that title and thinking about the unknown future that instead was waiting for Isabelle.

Thomas turned his face to look at her and tenderly caressed her cheek. Their daughter would be fine, he knew that, because she was indeed a princess even without a title to prove that… Wasn't she in fact the daughter of the bravest and most wonderful Queen England ever had?


	10. Jewels

Well... I almost got crazy writing this! LoL That's because I had a problem with the translation of what in Italian is "_Gioielli della Corona_", I just couldn't find it! So I finally translate it as Crown's Jewelry (but I'm still unsure about). So let me know if you like it (and also if the translation of Crown's Jewelry is correct if you want) thank you :)

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**_J_ewels**

First of all the Crown's Jewelry and then the Crown itself. That was a sign, only a mere sign of what was already clear for at least the last month: she was no more Queen of England.

"How do I look?" she asked turning to the man in the room. She was the same as ever, except for the crown.

"You look better…" Thomas More dared to say taking the crown in his hands.

Catherine looked up to him, trying to find the irony on his face. But she didn't. He seemed absolutely honest and for a moment, just a moment, even she would have liked to think the same, that maybe it really didn't belong no more to her.

Yes, because her beloved Crown was becoming too full of hidden thorns.


	11. Kiss

**Here I am again... This is letter K, and it's the shortest one so far... I hope you like (at least more than I do). **

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**_K_iss**

"Kiss me"

It was the begging of the loyal servant or the command of the Queen. Or maybe the simple request of two servants of God too lost in the world and too lost in each other.

Or maybe just two words that let their lips meet. But as they caressed each other's lips it was like they were caressing the too thin border between duty and will, wrong and right.

It was a taste of Heaven that sent them to Hell.


	12. Labyrinth

Added letter L:) I hope you like it... Strangely I haven't anything more to say LoL

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**_L_abyrinth**

Thomas More was walking in the Palace's garden waiting for the King; it has been a very long time since the last time he had been at Court and he was already getting tired of the way of life, so different from the one he was used to. He sighed and turned back to try to escape from the labyrinth of plants and flowers that the big garden was. And then he saw her.

"Your Majesty!" he exclaimed bowing to her and taking her hand.

"Sir Thomas" she answered while a small smile came out from her lips.

She hadn't smile for a very long time and he knew that, he understood it when he looked into her eyes. If possible, they were more sparkling than he remembered, they were more beautiful than the last time, but also sadder.

He didn't say anything, just stared into her eyes in silence for some moments, he just couldn't take his look away. Those two pieces of sky were like a labyrinth, one where he loved to get lost in.


	13. Marriage

Yes, I'm not dead LoL... Hope you like it:)

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**_M_arriage**

"I have chosen my new husband" she simply said with a sigh sitting down.

That was the deal. She would have allowed to the divorce from Henry, if their daughter Mary would have still been the Princess of England and in the line of succession ,and if she could have remained in London, had as money and estates as she asked (not that was what she really cared for) and married whomever she would have chosen.

"Then I'm happy for you…" the Lord Chancellor replied, even if the note of irony in his voice and the sadness in his look said quite the contrary.

"I'm going to marry tomorrow" she continued avoiding his eyes.

He deeply sighed, he didn't know if he could bear it. He accepted all those years that she was Henry's because he was the King and it was her destiny but now…

"And to who, if I can ask?" he dared to say in a mixture of curiosity and masochism.

Catherine smiled, moved some steps to him and stopped just when their noses met.

"To you"


	14. Nightmare

I'm back with letter N, hope you like it as always :)

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**_N_ightmare**

The Crown on her head, a smile on her face and Henry VIII by her side looking at her with eyes full of devotion and love. She sadly smiled opening her eyes, it took just one look around to understand it all was just a dream, an ironic dream.

"Good morning my love" said a voice behind her back, while she felt a kiss on her naked shoulder.

She slowly turned around in the bed, still a bit confused for the dream she had had. Her new husband smiled at her kissing her this time on the lips. It was too good to be true to wake up every morning like this, with a man who loved her next to her, and she didn't regret at all to not be anymore the Queen of England, but just Catherine More.

It wasn't a dream after all, on the contrary maybe an awful nightmare.


	15. Own

It's been so long since the last time I updated I know, but I had other stories to update and this one well... I forgot it I admit! LoL Anyway, I hope you like this drabble :)

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**_O_wn**

Thomas More was no longer Lord Chancellor, he gave his demission just two days before, and now he was standing in front of her sharing the news.

"Why?" was all Catherine could ask and the answer was too obvious to be said.

He gave it all up for his values, for his beliefs, for himself, for her, for God and the conscience, the two highest powers for both of them.

"Thomas…" she called him as he reached the door, ready to go. "You have the bravest heart I've ever seen"

It could have been the last time they had met, she just had to tell him. He wasn't going to die in vain. Because unfortunately, that was for sure: he was going to die, sooner or later, and not for natural causes.

"But remember my Queen, that you own this heart"


	16. Painting

**_P_ainting**

Thomas didn't know exactly how long he had had that painting, but he perfectly remembered how he got it. It was the Queen herself to give it to him after one of his visit to her at Court and one of their lively conversation. It had seemed at first a bit awkward of course, but he accepted very gladly that gift, taking it everywhere for the rest of his life, even in the Tower of London.

It was something that two lovers usually did and maybe in such a platonic way they were.

She never understood that, he simply too late.

"You are still in time to change your mind" said Cromwell from the door still closed, turning back to the prisoner.

"I can't" he simply replied.

"But, why?" the new Chancellor asked again unable to understand.

Thomas More simply smiled sadly to himself "Poor Cromwell" he thought, almost feeling pity for him, because the other man didn't know what it was to believe in something, to stay faithful to it.

But he did, and he decided to die for that something, even if it was just a painting.


	17. Questionable

**_Q_uestionable**

Catherine was in her chambers, hands joined to pray and thoughts running far away from there; even tears refused to fall and all that was left was the disappointment for the umpteenth time.

There were too many things left questionable.

She had been in the King's chambers just the day before and they had made love, or at least that's what was for her, while in truth it was only an illusion and Henry assured to make it clear. And it was clear for her: she was his every time he wanted, he just had to ask and she was ready to gave herself completely, even now that he was continuing his idea of divorce. It could have been fine if she was a mistress like Bessie Blount, but (un)fortunately she wasn't like her.

"Your Majesty" a very familiar voice called behind her.

Catherine turned her head enough to see her dear friend Thomas More enter the room unannounced and unexpected.

And that could be very questionable.

She didn't know what he was doing there, but stood up and before thinking she was in his arms, finally letting go those painful tears. For that night she had loved enough, now it was time to be loved.

And all the rest was still questionable.


	18. Royal

**_R_oyal**

When she was young, when she was just the Infanta of Spain, Catherine always dreamt about her future, the future of a girl meant to be a Queen someday. She dreamt of course about the Palace she would have lived in, the Court and the Kingdom, but most of all she dreamt about her future husband.

She was a Princess and deserved a Prince. But unluckily for her, neither Arthur with his weakness nor Henry with his impulsiveness ever reflected that dream.

"You know, sometimes I wish I was a King or something like that" came the voice unexpected of Thomas More while she was lost in her thoughts.

"Why?" she simply asked a bit confused by that sentence.

"To deserve you" he whispered giving to her a quick kiss on the lips.

Catherine turned to him and just smiled, not hiding a bit of irony. Who'd have known she would have find her perfect Prince in someone who wasn't Royal at all?


	19. Sin

**_S_in**

"It is a sin" a voice was screaming in her head, despite her banishment from Court and the her husband's new marriage.

"It is a sin" she whispered with the last glimpse of lucidity, before kissing again the man in front of her.

"What is a sin?" Thomas More asked looking at her, with eyes full of devotion and desire.

Catherine didn't answer and he sighed. He knew what she was thinking, his conscience was telling him the same thing.

"What is a sin?" he repeated "Watching you, the best woman in the world, so sad, without say or do anything? What is a sin, to want to make you feel loved, and protected? To desire you, to love you? If I deny my love for you, this is a sin too… You just have to choose what kind of sinner you want to be… And I have chosen, Catherine" he finished calling her by the name.

She looked at him, without speaking. Neither her conscience spoke.

And so she chose too. And kissed him again.


	20. Tears

**_T_ears**

It would have been very strange to see Catherine of Aragon crying, but lately every time they met, Thomas More saw her in tears. Of course he didn't see the tears rolling down her cheeks, but he could see them sparkling in her blue eyes. She was the Queen, the strongest woman of England, the smartest he had ever met, and yet she was also the saddest; despite her fake smile the she knew she couldn't have kept on putting on for ever, tears were always there.

If only she decided to remove them, he would have been there to show her a reason to smile.

If only she decided to let them fall, he would have been there to wipe them away.

But instead those tears remained just there, trapped in a sky that knew too much clouds but from which he had still never seen raining.


	21. Utopia

**_U_topia**

"My Queen"

Catherine hadn't heard those two words for a long time and who could have said them if not his only true friend left?

"You don't have to call me this way no longer…" she whispered.

She didn't have to look at him while she was finally surrendering; he instead couldn't look away from the neglected and yet still stunning figure he had in front of him, the figure of a Queen.

"My Queen" he repeated, bowing to her and kissing her hands, staring at her with eyes full of devotion.

Because to those eyes, she would have always be a Queen. At least of his Utopia.


End file.
